A folder "LocalFolder Mail" in the profile folder is considered by TB 24 as a folder not safe to store mail to!Read comment #32 in the bug report https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=921371#c32which says "Depends on where your Local directories are set. If they are outside of the profile (e.g. d:\data\TB-mail\*), then mail.root.* directories are not consulted. They are only used if the Local directory points into the profile. Then the prefs say which folders are safe to store mail to. Currently it should be Mail, ImapMail, News unless the user changed them."

I just created a folder "LocalFolder Mail" in my profile folder, then tried to change the path to the local directory for message storage by pointing to the "LocalFolder Mail" folder and got the error message!But this still doesn't explain why you get the error message in 4), 5) and 6).Furthermore, you didn't find any mail.root path pointing to "LocalFolder Mail" in your prefs.js file.

My account settings window always opens with the default account highlighted.If you can open it with Local Folders highlighted, this must be the effect of an add-on.Maybe in your case one or more add-ons are interfering with the problem caused by the new message storage directory control feature in TB 24 which makes it even more difficult to find a solution.

I think I'm beginning to understand where I'm at with this, but wouldn't mind a bit more advice.

Re: your Para 2. The mail.root entries all pointed to dead folders, but nonetheless didn't contain any reference to LocalFolder Mail. They were thus:-"user_pref("mail.root.none", "C:\\WINDOWS\\Application Data\\Thunderbird\\Profiles\\n2u8elsp.default\\Mail");"

When you created the LocalFolder Mail, I presume that you pointed to it by browsing to it under Account Settings and changing it there, rather than by any prefs.js editing. Would doing that then change the mail.server. server2 etc 2 lines in prefs.js that you quote from my previous post (from the "good" folder name to the bad LocalFolder Mail name)? Or should it be edited in prefs?

I'm not too worried about the highlighting business, as I now know how to work around it until such time as I find out the cause.

Regarding your final paragraph:-

My \abcdefgh.default\Mail folder seems to contain mostly junk, (like old 127.0.0 folders from old spam add-ons etc.) most of which hasn't been accessed for a long while. There is NO Local Folders subfolder in there at present.

If I understand you right, what you are recommending is that I create a Local Folders subfolder in the \Mail folder. Presumably I then need to copy all the contents (which is critical mail for retention) of my \LocalFolder Mail into the new \Mail\Local Folders. Prefs then needs to point to this new folder, which is done either by prefs edit or by changing the location via Account Settings - my para 4 above asks which way is best to do this.

I imagine the best way to check this is to set up a separate new testing profile, copy all the current profile into it and then make the changes discussed above.

The other odd thing I have just noticed is that on each POP mail account entry in the Account Settings, the Local Directory is set to \abcdefgh.default\Mail\127.0.0-7-1 (or similar) which contain Trash, .msf files etc. All the files seem to be empty, and many not recently accessed (mostly old original email accounts from ISP changes e.g. Lineone to Tiscali to TalkTalk), but all the actual emails, both current and archived, are found in the various named subfolders (e.g. Archives, Inbox,my own named folder like "Messages from Bert to Keep" and so forth) of LocalFolder Mail as .wdseml files.

As the POP accounts point to \Mail\127 (whatever), which is "correct", there is presumably no need to change them in any way?

I've changed it all around as suggested i.e. created a Local Folders subfolder of Mail, moved all the stuff in LocalFolder Mail to the new folder, changed the Local Folders folder setting via Account Settings.

I've changed it all around as suggested i.e. created a Local Folders subfolder of Mail, moved all the stuff in LocalFolder Mail to the new folder, changed the Local Folders folder setting via Account Settings.

I still wonder about why you did not already have the "Local Folders" as a sub-folder of the "Mail" folder.Thunderbird by default automatically creates the "Local Folders" in "Mail" when you create your first account.Even if I exit TB and delete "Local Folders" in the profile, TB will re-create it on restart.

I suspect that it's all of a piece with porting the profile over from XP some time ago.

Interestingly, I renamed LocalFolder Mail to something else (after I'd copied its contents to my newly-created folder \Mail\Local Folders). When I started up TB for the first time after that, I think it was still set up with the Account Settings-Local Folders option being LocalFolder Mail, because looking at the profile, after I'd changed the Account Settings, I was surprised to see a new empty LocalFolder Mail folder; though TB was by now looking at \Mail\Local Folders so I could see my mail!

I've now deleted the LocalFolder Mail folders entirely, and a few TB restarts later, I haven't had another LocalFolder Mail created.

All very mysterious, but got there in the end with your assistance. I hope they don't spring any more of these surprises with future updates.

Sometimes, in a case like yours, it can be easier and more satisfying to solve the problem by a restart from scratch:create a new profile, set up all your accounts and recover your address book files and your message files (for the POP accounts) from the former profile. Your prefs.js file seems to contain many remnants from former providers, old profiles, directories no longer used, ... etc.

Just so that all the Win users feel better, I'm getting the same error on OS X (10.8.5). Same problems accessing/changing any account settings:

'The Local Directory path "/Users/mike/Mail/Thunderbird/Profiles/giuiapny.default/Local Folders" is not suitable for message storage. Please choose another directory.'

First noticed strangeness when looking at TB's Trash folder (from within TB, not in the directory itself); there were periods instead of to be deleted items. Now just clicking on the Trash folder causes a busy 'pinwheel' cursor; though, clicking on any other folder (e.g. Junk, Inbox, etc.) opens that folder immediately.

This _does_ seem to be related to the TB 24.0 update (don't recall seeing it before). And to be fair, I've used Thunderbird across several Macs over the past 5+ years and numerous OS X upgrades, migrating my mail along the way. I don't doubt that there is a _lot_ of garbage in my profile. I am not averse to starting a new profile if I can salvage my old email folder structure and emails without dedicating multiple hours/days to the process.

/mike

Last edited by rsx11m on October 28th, 2013, 1:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason:edited base64-encoded string in this post as it broke the forum layout

mikael340 wrote:First noticed strangeness when looking at TB's Trash folder (from within TB, not in the directory itself); there were periods instead of to be deleted items. Now just clicking on the Trash folder causes a busy 'pinwheel' cursor; though, clicking on any other folder (e.g. Junk, Inbox, etc.) opens that folder immediately.

Same problems accessing/changing any account settings:'The Local Directory path "/Users/mike/Mail/Thunderbird/Profiles/giuiapny.default/Local Folders" is not suitable for message storage. Please choose another directory.'

The 'offending' folder is the Local Folder trash (I believe). I have 3 gmail accounts (each with its own subfolder in the 'Mail' folder), and the trash folders in each are 0 bytes, the trash.msf are 1 Kbyte. The Local Folder Trash is 132 MB and its trash.msf is 25 KB. I have been using 'Local Folder' as the storage location for all 3 accounts. They all share the Junk and Trash folders in 'Local Folder.'

[1] It did offer a clue: there is no path to the Trash folder (unlike the Inbox, Junk, etc. folders). In fact, trying to add a path is not possible via the keyboard or by cutting and pasting (this is in the dropdown windoid that appears when right clicking on Trash -> Properties).

"Did you search, in your prefs.js file or in the config editor, for "mail.root..." paths pointing to non-existing folders?"

The 'offending' folder is the Local Folder trash (I believe). I have 3 gmail accounts (each with its own subfolder in the 'Mail' folder), and the trash folders in each are 0 bytes, the trash.msf are 1 Kbyte. The Local Folder Trash is 132 MB and its trash.msf is 25 KB. I have been using 'Local Folder' as the storage location for all 3 accounts. They all share the Junk and Trash folders in 'Local Folder.'

So you are using a "Global Inbox" for your GMail pop accounts which I couldn't guess from your first message.In this case shut down TB, delete the Trash and Trash.msf files in /Mail/Local Folders/, copy an empty Trash file of one of your pop3*** accounts and paste it in /Mail/Local Folders/. Restart TB and test the Trash folder.

[1] It did offer a clue: there is no path to the Trash folder (unlike the Inbox, Junk, etc. folders).In fact, trying to add a path is not possible via the keyboard or by cutting and pasting (this is in the dropdown windoid that appears when right clicking on Trash -> Properties).

This is normal! The path to the folders' files can not be set in the "Properties" window.And when you use the Global Inbox there is no path displayed in the Trash -> "Properties" window -> Location.

Eckard wrote:Did you search, in your prefs.js file or in the config editor, for "mail.root..." paths pointing to non-existing folders?

Used vi in terminal to look at prefs.js.

I don't understand what you mean You don't need the Terminal to open the prefs.js file.Open it in TextEdit.app.

Had to use my admin name/password to delete the misbehaving 'Global Inbox' Trash and Trash.msf files...strange in that it's in my normal (non-admin) user account home directory and I (should) have ownership. Could be why I couldn't view it. Why the permissions on it would have changed is puzzling.

You don't need the Terminal to open the prefs.js file.Open it in TextEdit.app.

Never been real fond of textedit. Like it even less with the versioning built into Mountain Lion. Used vi on Unix way back when. Half the reason I stuck with Apple was the Unix underpinnings promised in OS X.

mikael340 wrote:Never been real fond of textedit. Like it even less with the versioning built into Mountain Lion. Used vi on Unix way back when. Half the reason I stuck with Apple was the Unix underpinnings promised in OS X.

So, when you open your prefs.js file in whatever program you like, do you see "mail.root..." paths pointing to non-existing directories?